


Bad Grades and Fun Shenanigans

by edgy_bi_dumbass



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: 2000s, Alternate Universe - High School, Bullying, Fluff and Angst, Gen, High School, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Light Angst, No Romance, Platonic Relationships, Racism, Slurs, Small Towns, Teen Angst, Teenage Dorks, Teenagers, eventually not garbage maybe, plot is kinda vague rn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:27:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26128021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edgy_bi_dumbass/pseuds/edgy_bi_dumbass
Summary: Purely platonic self-indulgent fic based on exploring the dynamics of Seán, Ethan, Mark, Bob, Tyler, and Wade if they were all in the same Highschool. Time period is around 2009.Might deal with themes of bullying, commiting smaller crimes because teenagers, being terrible at coping and feelings in general, and other shenanigans of them all being dumb kids. I tried my hardest to stick to what is "canonical" (I mean they're real people so idk what to call it) but there might be some things off. Contains my terrible writing, beware.
Relationships: Ethan Nestor & Tyler Scheid, Mark Fischbach & Bob Muyskens, Mark Fischbach & Ethan Nestor, Wade Barnes & Bob Muyskens, Wade Barnes & Mark Fischbach
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	Bad Grades and Fun Shenanigans

**Author's Note:**

> hi this is garbo and tbh I'd love to write a college fic aswell just bc college is fuckin wack but they've all been to highschool and did cool shit in hs so why tf not?
> 
> warning: contains cursing, potentially homophobic slurs (q-word), mentions of bullying, and that's it I think-- stay safe, if anything here might trigger you, don't read the chapter. Skip to the end and there'll be a summary if you really wish to know

Ethan's day-to-day was pretty uneventful, honestly; if he had to describe to someone what his routine was, he'd basically say something like "uhh I do gymnastics after school, I guess?" and leave it at that; it was mostly the truth, his routine wasn't all that exciting.

He'd get up reluctantly and grumble about mornings, take a piss, serve his dog food and water, eat a sandwich or something, drink juice, brush his teeth, and head to school. After that he'd probably have a shitty time with language arts and get very distracted in math-- the way he felt about other classes were interchangeable with those two. Then he'd eat lunch with a kid from his physics class he knew and go across the halls ignoring the whispers and walking faster whenever he saw the student who called him names in the bus a few times. Then go home, change, relax for a bit, and get his energy out with some walkovers and practice a few cartwheels-- the pullovers and flips were his favorites, he got to show off and look cool around the few others he hung out with at the gym. Yes, he may have been a bit lonely, but the small amount of people he did know and talk to every once in a while were important to him, even if they didn't see eachother very often.

And that was it; rinse and repeat. Ethan enjoyed video games, but he was running on a tight schedule and usually only got five hours free to breathe (you'd imagine that would be a lot, but often time passed faster than Ethan'd expect).

It was on a Tuesday that his schedule was interrupted by those whom Ethan decided to call Asshole1 and Asshole2. He didn't know their names, often just two Sophomores that decided to be little shits (though sometimes they had a few others, like Asshole3); they'd help spread rumors of him behind his back (granted they didn't start them but still), yelled harsh insults at him from the back of the bus on three different days, Asshole2 one day smacked the back of Ethan's head as he walked by for no reason, and Ethan once got into trouble because Asshole1 found out how to replicate Ethan's handwriting and leave a creepy note on his chemistry teacher's desk. It was a very patronizing and slightly objectifying note. Mr. Wilson seemed mostly surprised thankfully, and didn't take that much offense to it, but he didn't believe Ethan when he said he didn't write it, despite letting him go on the condition he didn't use "inappropriate language" anymore. That really didn't help with the rumors, in fact, it actually might've made them worse.

That Tuesday they stuck some papers to his bag, and got his locker stuck with chewed up gum in the lock. He was late to math, and got extra homework for missing a third of the class. It was an especially bad day apparently, and Asshole2 scribbled "queer boy" on his notebook cover. _Fun._

He didn't have anything against people who were actually gay, but he grew to resent the word itself a bit-- that was probably mostly _his_ problem to work out, but the name-calling and how everyone kept saying he _"had to be",_ well it really didn't help at all. Though, maybe, it might've been worse if he actually was, and all the insults weren't just a lie. Why had he never thought of it from that perspective? Well now he felt like a douchebag.

He was having this epiphany as he organized his papers and attempted to no avail to wipe off the message from the cover written in permanent marker at his empty table at lunch (that one kid he'd chat with was at home sick) when he was interrupted by footsteps, and the plastic of one of the lunchroom chairs squeaking under weight. He looked up; on the other side of the table, two seats to Ethan's left, was _that_ guy (Ethan wasn't planning on getting to know him anyway so he didn't really care to ask for his real name before, but he didn't have a good nickname for him yet).

 _That_ guy was the dude that got his photo put on the math teacher's board for the best of his grade. _That_ guy was basically a living calculator; and he was on marching band or something. Maybe. Ethan wasn't sure, he didn't really put much attention to that, but that's not the point.

He would've tried to befriend him, since he saw him a lot in the hall and _that_ guy seemed nice enough, but _that_ guy was probably a bit of a nerd and they might have no common ground except for both of them playing instruments. That convo would be very awkward. Yet, there he was, for whatever reason, sitting at the same lunch table.

Ethan looked at his light blue wristwatch to check how long this uncomfortable silence nightmare was going to last, and uh, yep. About thirty more minutes. _Cool._

A minute passed. Ethan just focused on eating the apple he brought for lunch.

Another minute passed. He may have been eating faster than usual, since he only had half the apple left.

Ethan finished eating, drank some Gatorade he had in his lunchbox and checked his wristwatch again. Another minute.

He was already tapping his foot, but the awkwardness made him tap faster. Maybe this day was getting worse.

Another minute.

Oh God, you know what? No thank you, fuck that. He couldn't deal with this.

So Ethan said "Hi," and probably ruined his run to breaking some record time of being quiet. A moment passed as _that_ guy seemed to be caught off-guard, he looked up to see who was talking. "uh-- I'm Ethan. Um... What's your name?" That guy replied "Oh, uh-- I'm Mark. Hi." He grinned a bit too widely after speaking. And well, now Ethan actually knows his name (that's fantastic news honestly, Ethan really didn't wanna come up with something, he tried mathdude, maybebandcalculator, calculatorguy, bandnerd and a few others but none really stuck and he didn't wanna actually put in effort).

Mark stretched out his hand, and, after a bit of hesitation, Ethan shook it. Mark's mannerisms might've been a bit odd, he was way too polite, but Mark seemed like he was trying his hardest to be approachable, so Ethan thought maybe he was just a bit socially anxious. Ethan himself really enjoyed talking to his friends, and new people were always interesting as long as they weren't douchebags, but he supposed it might be different for some.

Ethan went back to his Gatorade, then spoke. "So... Why did you sit here? Er, I mean like, why not where you usually sit?" he corrected himself after realizing the original sentence may've been a bit rude. Ethan fidgeted with his hands while he waited for the answer, but he didn't look down, he was interested in the response; the fidgeting wasn't so much out of anxiety, but instead mostly out of habit: his brain was always buzzing and focusing on two things at once helped Ethan actually listen and observe his surroundings, the part of his mind that didn't know how to chill the fuck out got something to put attention to, and the rest of his conciousness was able to think and function easier when there wasn't an overwhelming amount of white noise. Obviously, he was on ADHD medication aswell, that helped a lot.

"Oh, right, sorry... Well my friend Wade had to go to detention, and my other friend skipped school today." Mark's talking snapped him back, but mostly because that was a shock. You'd expect the good-grades-never-gets-in-trouble student to have equally good-grades-never-gets-in-trouble friends, but apparently with Mark, that wasn't the case. Then again Ethan didn't know who "Wade" was, and probably didn't know any of Mark's other friends. "Oh, damn. Well, my friend got a cold, so he also stayed at home." The topic was over and the silence started to nag at Ethan again.

Before the small pause got too awkward, Ethan decided to indulge the curious side of his brain. "So, I heard you do marching band? Or is that just like, me making stuff up?" Mark perked up at this, and smiled again, this time softer, more genuine; "Yeah, I play the trumpet. Do you play any instruments?" he seemed more cheerful now that the conversation started actually picking up, ever the introvert. "Oh! I used to play trumpet as a kid, but I barely know ath-- anything now. I do play ukelele though?" Ethan stumbled a bit with his words but it went by unnoticed. Mark nodded, and took a bite of his $5.00 school lunch-quality cheeseburger.

The rest of the day went by as usual. But hey, Ethan would take what he could get, and despite the fact he didn't see him again that day, he got to know someone, and Mark could potentially be a new friend. Honestly to him that's a win.

Maybe Tyler and him could get along; if he ever sees Mark again in lunch he should introduce them both. Ethan messaged him:

> hey tyler  
> hey  
> i met this guy today who seemed rlly nice  
> i think u 2 miht get along? maybe u can meet him tommorow
> 
> omfg ethan  
> its like 2 AM  
> go to sleep u heathen
> 
> im no coward  
> i die like a man  
> and i rlly wana pass that boss in demon souls i told u abt

Ethan gets a reply from Tyler, berating him because he's an idiot and needs sleep to be a functioning human being; but he isn't able to read it until later that morning, because he passed out on his bed on top of his Playstation 3 controller. He was left with a joystick-shaped mark on his face.

A few days later he was able to hang out with Mark and his friends: Bob and Wade. Apparently Tyler and Mark had already met, but they didn't know eachother as closely and were able to chat more than they had before. Mark, Bob, and Wade eventually just started sitting at the same table as Tyler and Ethan, and things were looking up. His schedule now included actually hanging out with people and having fun at lunch and between classes; on the weekend instead of obsessively playing PS 3 and crappy online laptop games until he passed out (with the ocassional going outside to walk his family's dog), he'd also be able to visit Tyler or Wade, who were less busy in the weekend, or just call any of them and play together, after they all exchanged numbers.

One Monday, a school fight caught Ethan's eye.

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter focused on describing Ethan's boring day-to-day life, he goes to school and chats with the few people he knows (some people in his school aren't so nice), does gymnastics, and plays video games on his spare time. On a peculiarly bad day he meets Mark, a math (and physics but not mentioned yet shh Ethan doesn't know) whiz who Ethan assumes he doesn't have almost anything in common with. He is wrong. They chat and few days later he meets Bob and Wade, as well as introduces Tyler to the others.  
> He gains a small friend group, and feels less lonely. Time goes by and the group grows closer; Ethan sees a school fight.  
> I'm sorry if I summed it up badly, but I tried to not include any of the potentially triggering content :D


End file.
